A few years ago I attended a function launching the Australia Day Nominations for the following year in my hometown. Past recipients of the Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year are invited to attend, and a couple of past or present recipients speak briefly about their experiences or reflections on receiving such an honour.
The function I was present at was the inaugural one and as such one of the speakers was the first person awarded the Citizen of the Year award. Now a retired, and extremely well regarded, pharmacist, he presented a talk on the award, the honour and the recipients, rather than about himself.
He made one statement that has lingered with me ever since. It was simply this; all of the recipients in our local city council area of the Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year awards (this was in 2010 so I can’t say that this is still the case, though I’d be surprised if it wasn’t) were practising Christians.
All of the recipients believed in Christ and lived their faith accordingly.
I was really impressed at his statement and was sorry to see my husband motion to a local Greens’ councillor who scoffed and mocked the statement whilst this speech continued. For all of this man’s rudeness there was no denying the truth of the speaker’s statement.
I had only to look around the room to see this to be the case, and others, who were not present, gave a very strong witness. The young lady who was awarded the title of Young Citizen of the Year the year before me is now a minister in the Uniting Church.
The woman who was named Citizen of the Year in the same year I received the Young Citizen of the Year award is a truly remarkable foster mother of whom I am still in awe. It takes a special person to care for and nurture babies suffering drug withdrawals only to see them return to their mothers when they are declared fit to parent again; to love children willingly and sacrificially knowing that any day, at any moment they will leave their care and return to their biological families.
Last week I received the invitation for this year’s award nominations launch and it set me off into the remembrance of 2010’s event and I couldn’t help but think that perhaps the link between Christianity and citizenship is far more tangible than our secular peers would have us believe. But should that come as such a surprise?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that ‘It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from a duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity.’ (CCC 2238)
Citizenship belongs to the order of charity and yet, what is charity but ‘the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God’? (CCC 1822)
I remember feeling humbled in 2003 to be given such an honour, for being considered for such an award, and eleven years on I still wonder why it was me. You see, I don’t consider myself special or more generous than anyone else. It is true that I love God, and I try to serve him, though my efforts are less than perfect I can assure you, and I think that I am blessed to be loved by him though I do not deserve it.
Sometimes we need reminding to live charitably and in writing this article I have found myself trying to depict the Green’s councillor in a truthful rather than spiteful or condescending way. Perhaps I was honoured with the Young Citizen of the Year award, but this doesn’t mean that I always live and act charitably.
Yes, our faith gives us a head start in being good citizens, but this does not make us superior to our secular peers who like us, live in a narcissistic world. Because we have the faith, there is more of an expectation for us to lead good and holy lives. But we must not become complacent and consider that we are better than those who are ignorant of, or mock, our faith. They do not have the truth, therefore we cannot expect them to live out the theological virtue of charity. We do, however, and as difficult as it can be, we must continue to love our neighbours as ourselves for the love of God.
Originally posted 2014-09-18 22:17:37.